Teams 1 to 4 in each conference are the three division winners and the team with the next best regular-season record, with the seeding of these four teams determined by regular-season record. The playoffs seedings of Teams 5 to 8 are based upon regular-season record. Ties are broken pursuant to the rules set forth below.

Ties for playoff positions (including division winners) will be broken utilizing the criteria set forth in subparagraph a. below (in the case of ties involving two teams) and subparagraph b. below (in the case of ties involving more than two teams), and the guidelines set forth in subparagraph c. below.

a. Two Teams Tied b. More Than Two Teams Tied(1) Better winning percentage in games against each other. (1) Better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams.(2) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if tied teams are in same division). (2) Better winning percentage against teams in own division (only if all tied teams are in the same division).(3) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference. (3) Better winning percentage against teams in own conference.(4) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position). (4) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in own conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position).(5) Better winning percentage against teams eligible for playoffs in opposite conference (including teams that finished the regular season tied for a playoff position). (5) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (“point differential”).(6) Better net result of total points scored less total points allowed against all opponents (“point differential”).

c. Guidelines For Applying Tie-Break Criteria. The following guidelines shall be used when applying the above criteria to break ties for playoff positions:

(1) (a) Since the three division winners are guaranteed a spot in the top four, ties to determine the division winners must be broken before any other ties.(b) When a tie must be broken to determine a division winner, the results of the tie-break shall be used to determine only the division winner and its playoff position, not any other playoff position(s).

(2) If a tie involves more than two teams, the tie-break criteria in subparagraph b. shall be applied in the order set forth therein until the first to occur of the following:(a) Each of the tied teams has a different winning percentage or point differential under the applicable tiebreak criterion (a “complete” breaking of the tie). In this circumstance, the team with the best winning percentage or point differential under the criterion will be awarded the best playoff position, the team with the next-best winning percentage or point differential will be awarded the next-best playoff position, and so on, and no further application of the tie-break criteria will be required.~OR~(b) One or more (but not all) of the tied teams has a different winning percentage or point differential under the applicable tie-break criterion (a “partial” breaking of the tie). In this circumstance: (x) any team(s) that performed better under the applicable criterion than any other team(s) will be awarded a higher playoff position than such other team(s); and (y) teams that had equivalent performance under the applicable criterion will remain tied, and such remaining tie(s) will be broken by applying, from the beginning, the criteria in subparagraph a.(1)-(6) above (for any remaining tie involving only two teams) or subparagraph b.(1)-(5) above (for any remaining tie involving more than two teams) and the guidelines set forth in this subparagraph c.

(3) If application of the criteria in subparagraph a. or b. does not result in the breaking of a tie, the playoff positions of the tied teams will be determined by a random drawing.

d. Home Court Advantage:For purposes of home court advantage, ties will be broken pursuant to the procedures used for breaking two-team ties for playoff position.

For 2012, here's how it was described as unfolding on tiebreakers involving GS picks:

Following tiebreakers that were held earlier today to break ties among teams that finished the 2011-12 NBA regular season with identical records to help determine the order of selection for the 2012 NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors have emerged with the pre-lottery slotted positions of #7 & #30 in the First Round and #35 & #52 in the Second Round, it was announced today. The random drawings were conducted in New York City by Carol Sawdye, NBA Chief Financial Officer, and Dan Rube, NBA Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. The tiebreak process was overseen by Martin Shannon, a partner in the accounting firm of Ernst & Young.

The Warriors were involved in four tiebreakers today:Golden State (23-43) won a tiebreaker with Toronto and enters the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery pre-slotted with the #7 position.

San Antonio (50-16) lost a tiebreaker with Chicago, and the Warriors, by virtue of acquiring the Spurs 2012 first round pick along with Richard Jefferson and T.J. Ford in exchange for Stephen Jackson on March 15, 2012, own the #30 pick.

New Jersey (22-44) lost a tiebreaker with Sacramento, and the Warriors, by virtue of acquiring the Nets 2012 second round pick along with Troy Murphy in exchange for Dan Gadzuric and Brandan Wright on February 23, 2011, own the #35 pick entering the lottery.

Atlanta (40-26) lost a tiebreaker with the L.A. Clippers, and the Warriors, by virtue of acquiring a 2012 second round pick from Atlanta (the lower of either Atlanta’s or Phoenix’s) in exchange for cash considerations on March 15, 2012, own the #52 pick.

In three of the four scenarios listed above (#7, #35 & #52), the Warriors pick ended up better than if the tiebreakers had gone the other way.

The actual final position of picks #1-14 will be officially determined during the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery on May 30. If the Warriors move up in the Draft Lottery to #1-3, or maintain their pre-slotted position at #7, the team will keep the pick. If the Warriors move down in the Draft Lottery to #8-10, the pick will become the property of the Utah Jazz, via the New Jersey Nets, by virtue of the Warriors trading a future protected first round pick to the Nets in exchange for Marcus Williams on July 22, 2008.

2 ADDITIONAL TIEBREAKER ISSUES INVOLVING LOTTERY PICKS

For lottery teams who are tied, the basic lottery seed from 1-14 is first resolved by the same random drawing process, so that all teams enter the lottery with a defined position from 1 to 14.

But when it comes time for the lottery itself, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy.

For example, in 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers tied for the sixth worst record. The average of the 6th and 7th positions in the lottery was taken, resulting in each team getting 53 combinations (the average of 63 and 43).

In cases where the average number is not a whole number, the extra ping-pong ball goes to the team who won the random drawing between the teams and who otherwise would have the better pick.

HartfordWhalers wrote:well, that info would have helped in your question, as when you phrased it in terms of teams at 36-30 it would have seemed to be in terms of playoff seedings...

The problem was that the title of the thread was about the lottery tiebreaker rules, but the examples that the Bull used all referred to playoff tiebreakers. Kind of a Macedonian mixed metaphor.

Now that you pointed it out, I'm noticing that there are THREE tie-breaker processes mentioned in this thread.1 Playoff tiebreakers ...not asked, but answer provided by HW2 Draft order for non-lottery teams ....mentioned in the OP itself but not the title, and already answered (my post above)3 Lottery ...appears in the OP title, but not mentioned in the OP ...and no one has actually addressed it, so I have added that to my prior answer above

However, in this case : "· New York (36-30) won a tiebreaker with Dallas; and Dallas won a tiebreaker with Utah." ->New York wins the three-way tiebreaker but clearly has better chance of doing so than Dallas or Utah - as the winner of that pair must win another coin toss to get the best draft position.

Something favors New York against both Dallas and Utah and I was searching for that info.

3 However, in this case : "· New York (36-30) won a tiebreaker with Dallas; and Dallas won a tiebreaker with Utah." ->New York wins the three-way tiebreaker but clearly has better chance of doing so than Dallas or Utah - as the winner of that pair must win another coin toss to get the best draft position.

4 Something favors New York against both Dallas and Utah and I was searching for that info.

1 NY, Dallas, and Utah was not a lottery tiebreaker, as all of those teams made the playoffs.2 That is correct; the drawings are random.3 The article you cited was worded poorly. In 2012 the final order (determined by the drawings) was NY-Dallas- Utah. NY won the first drawing to get the best choice among the 3 teams, and Dallas won the next drawing to get the 2nd choice among the three.4 Nope. If you want to see how it should have been properly worded, you can see it in 2010 (there was no tie of 3 or more teams in 2011.)http://www.nba.com/2010/news/04/16/draf ... index.html